


RV - DaveJadeKat In the Woods

by blue_and_copper



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi, it's more of a mood than a plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-09-25 21:50:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20378677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blue_and_copper/pseuds/blue_and_copper
Summary: Dave, accompanied by Jade and Karkat, takes his brother's RV for a trip into the wilderness.





	RV - DaveJadeKat In the Woods

**Author's Note:**

> The slowest-written fic in existence. It's taken literal years for this lil thing.

The old RV clattered and rumbled down the beaten-down dirt road, the two bereaved surfaces groaning noisily against each other. Dust flew up in the air and took long to settle, while tiny pebbles pinged off the metal sheeting and grimy windshield.

_“The king of crowd rockers is finally back, my voice is your choice as the hottest wax, true as a wizard, just a blizzard, I ain’t takin’ no crap, I’m rhymin’ and designin’ with your girl in my lap, the bass is kickin’ always stickin’ cause you like it that way, you take a…”_

The old-school rap filled the cabin of the RV, following the tapping of the driver’s fingers against the sun-bleached leather steering wheel. Dave flicked the white-blonde hair out of his eyes and pushed up his sunglasses, head nodding to the beat of the song.

A knock came from the rear as a figure pushed past the bead curtain. “You need anything up here?” Jade asked, leaning down to look at the road ahead. Dave looked over and smirked. “Hey, I’ve got good music and a great view, what more could I need?” Jade flushed, and socked him in the arm as she tugged up her tank top.

Sweeping a sweatshirt and bag of chips off the passenger seat, she sat with a _whumph,_ releasing a cloud of dust and adding momentarily to the creaking cacophony of the mobile home. “Karkat wants to know much longer it’s going to be.”

“He’s been asking every ten fuckin’ minutes, just tell him to math a little. It’s close, though. We’ve been off the paved road for a while.”

“As if we hadn’t noticed.” Jade grumbled, again pulling her tank top higher. The camper jolted particularly hard, as if in answer, throwing the both of them to the left. The hula girl glued to the dashboard shook merrily as they righted themselves.

“He doing okay?” Dave asked. “Not to be a dick, but my bro would, like, actually kill me if Karkat hurled in the back.”

“Still holding onto his bag, but otherwise, yeah.” Jade snagged the bag of Fritos from the floor, plucking one chip out for herself and offering another to Dave, who took it and threw it into his mouth without glancing away from the road.

Another half hour and they’d arrived at their destination, the distressed wheels of the camper squealing as Dave braked carefully into the space at the head of the rough campsite. The early afternoon sun shone through the trees and sparkled off the lake. 

Karkat threw open the rear door of the RV and joined them in staring out at the lake. He hugged Dave from behind and nestled his head in the crook of Dave’s neck and shoulder, groaning softly. Jade rubbed a sympathetic hand over his shoulders. “You feeling okay?” Another muffled groan was her answer. Dave laughed, and stroked a hand over Karkats’ where they were clasped around his chest.

Mid-afternoon saw the trio tramping around the lake, pointing out to each other fish in the slow moving waters, quick-darting dragonflies, and frogs that leapt away as their shadows came near. The air buzzed with cicadas and the thick smell of summer. 

At the far end of the lake, they sat on a boulder, toes just reaching down to dip into the water. 

“…And then I just send him a smiley face, but of course that’s only gonna piss him off, right? So meanwhile we’re all just waiting to see what he’s gonna send next, we’re all making bets and taking shots, and then he sends me back a video of him taking a shit on my bed?! Which obviously he hadn’t just done cause I was in the fucking dorm at the time and he was away, but anyway Kan goes to take a look, and what she finds is…” 

Jade looked over at Dave, mouthing _Looks like he’s feeling better,_ and grinned as a slow, lazy smile spread over his face. Karkat chattered on.

On the last leg of their walk, the stream flowing into the lake was slow-moving but deep, and the rocks that made up the path were more than a step apart. Jade went first, putting her hair back into a ponytail, and was tall and well-balanced enough to make each jump with little effort. Karkat’s jumps were slightly more nervous, teetering on the edge of each rock before throwing himself to the next, but suffered only a soaked foot before reaching the far bank. 

Dave, however, took one leap - two - and splashed down face-first, full-bodied into the water. 

Spluttering as he came up, he threw a glare at the other two, laughing at his gangly fall. “So not cool,” he threw out as he rose, “So uncool to be kicking your boy while he’s down.”

He sloshed his way over to the pair, squeezing out the hem of his shirt, only for Karkat to catch Dave’s face between his hands as he pulled him in for a kiss. After a moment, Dave pulled him closer, his embrace holding tight against Karkat’s struggles as his clothes soaked through to the other boy’s. Laughing, Dave released Karkat, the latter looking disgusted at the wet mark that spread all down his front. Dave looked to Jade next, arms out and grinning, but she, shaking her head and smiling, was already backing away.

The teasing of the trio echoed amongst the redwoods as the sun continued its slow progress across the cloudless sky, and they were back in camp as the last of it’s upper rim peeked above the valley’s treetops.

“Right, I know better than to let you two handle the cooking,” Karkat declared, retrieving the camp stove and gas can from the camper. “So who’s going to light the fire, and who’s going to be the lazy sack of shit tonight?”

As it turned out, it took both Dave and Jade to light the fire, neither having had much experience, and after the meal prep was done Dave had taken over the grill, demanding a turn at “that most American pastime, flipping burgers like a motherfucker.” 

Karkat sat in the camp chair by the crackling fire, Jade sitting on his lap and shivering as his hands tangled in her hair, scritching softly over her scalp. She smiled, eyes half closed, and leaned against him, and Dave’s lips curved upward as he watched them.

* * *

Tired and fed, the trio lay around the fire, murmuring and whispering their hushed conversations as the wind shushed through the trees above them. Jade had curled up on a long, bench-like log, eyes blinking lazily as the firelight reflected off her glasses. Karkat had his knees tucked into his chest in the camp chair he’d brought out of the RV, picking at the frayed ends of his sweatshirt with anxious fingers and gazing into the flickering reds and yellows of the firepit. Dave splayed his long arms and legs out to gaze up at the stars, a hand on his chest to block the firelight.

The trees above them rustled. The embers of the fire snapped, and the burning wood settled.

A twig snapped.

Karkat and Jade both raised their heads, turning in unison to look off into the darkness past the dimly light clearing. Jade rolled off the log and sat up, which caught Dave’s attention enough to raise his head and look at her. “What’s up?”

“We heard something,” Jade murmured. Karkat had risen, casting off the blanket from his lap, and stepped out of the camp chair to look into the woods. Vision clouded with starbursts, he looked vainly into the darkness, shaking his head. “There’s nothing there.”

Dave rolled to a seated position, brushing dirt and pine needles from the back of his shirt. “Isn’t this Bigfoot country? Maybe he smelled what’s cooking and came over to hang out.”

Karkat sniffed the air. “I can’t smell anything.”

Jade raised an eyebrow. “You might be the first one downstairs when I make cookies, Kitkat, but that doesn’t make you a bloodhound by any stretch of the imagination.” Dave chuckled. Karkat shook his head defensively.

“No, I mean they’re supposed to smell bad! Sasquatches, wendigo, skinjackers, all those - in the stories the smell is the first thing they noticed. The- the campers, the victims.”

Jade’s ears perked up at that last one, fingers tugging anxiously at her hair. “I don’t know about any of that, but didn’t the signs on the way in say it was coyote season? I used to have trouble with those back home, before I moved out to be with you guys.”

Dave withdrew an flashlight the size of his forearm from a cavernous hoodie pocket, clicking it on and pointing the bright beam at the foliage edging into the circle of firelight. Blinking against the sudden harsh glare, they watched as the flashlight panned over leaves, tree trunks, bushes, vines…

Nothing.

Karkat let loose a reluctant sigh, rolling up the blanket that had been on his lap. “I guess that means no sleeping under the stars tonight.”

“No,” Dave agreed, kicking dirt over the edges of the fire. “I’m just a little too spooked.”

Jade yawned, covering her mouth with the back of her hand, and turned to close up the impromptu kitchen. But something caught her eye, in the shadow cast by the camper. With the boys muttering behind her by the fire, she stepped closer, heart pounding. Eyes… eyes, glinting in the edges of the light. 

Jade made out rounded pupils, a furred outline, and her heart sped up before she registered how low to the ground the outline was. She backed up, tugging at Karkat’s sleeve as Dave stepped up behind them. “Look,” she breathed.

From behind the RV trundled a heavy figure, cloaked in brown fur and with a tapered muzzle. Blinking owlishly as it stepped into the firelight, the trio huffed out a breath as the young brown bear cocked its head to gaze nearsightedly at them. It lowered its head to snuffle at the ground near the stove, scenting where the hamburger grease had dripped onto the ground. 

“How old do you think it is?” whispered Karkat. The bear grunted at the noise, alternating between poking its snout at the dirt and up at the curious humans.

“Still young enough to have a mom around somewhere,” Dave muttered in response. “No bueno.”

Jade stepped forward to shoo the bear away, Karkat’s hand slipping off her shoulder. “Mr. Bear, we’re going to have to ask you to leave. We need to sleep, and we can’t have you digging around our kitchen in the middle of the night.”

“I can’t believe this,” Dave grinned to Karkat as he spoke, hand coming up to rest on the smaller boy’s waist. “Whatever random animal we run into, she wants to make a pet out of it, she just-“ But the bear was already slowly turning to pad away, looking once more over its shoulder to whuffle some sort of goodbye. Karkat smiled, turning closer to Dave’s warmth.

“Works more than you think it might.”

Jade, looking proud of herself, stood hands on her hips looking after the bear. “Well, time enough for bed, then.” She clacked shut the latch of the camp stove, then stretched as she headed for the camper. She cocked an eyebrow back in their direction. “You boys care to join me?”

After dousing the rest of the fire, they followed willingly. For even with the fears of the darkness satisfied, the night was cold, and their bed was warm.

* * *

The next morning woke to find two thirds of them still sleepy in bed. Karkat had risen to catch the morning light filtering down into the bowl of the valley, leaving Dave and Jade to wake up warm, sleepy and tangled in the sheets and each other’s arms. 

“Good morning,” Jade said with a sleepy smile as she planted a soft kiss to Dave’s cheek. He grumbled and burrowed deeper into the covers, pulling her closer against him. She stroked at his hair, feeling the shake of the camper as Karkat pulled himself up into the doorway. He stepped closer to them over the pile of their clothes on the floor, tracing a finger over the back of Dave’s exposed arm until he squirmed away and buried his face in a pile of blankets.

“Careful,” smiled Jade, “He’ll pull you down into the pile too if you’re not careful.”

“I figured. You ready to rejoin the land of the living?”

“I think so. If I’m allowed to detangle myself, anyway.”

After a couple of tries and some coaxing and teasing kisses, she was free, stretching up to run a hand along the roof of the camper as she followed Karkat out to their little campsite. 

The sun having not yet reached it's zenith, the air was still crisp, ruffling the trees with soft susurrations of leaves and pine needles. Points of light sparked off the tips of the little waves kicked up by the wind on the lake.

“We brought the canoe, right?” Jade asked, fingers trailing through the water. There was a convenient slab of rock jutting out over the water that was the perfect place to lay and watch the minnows flit and skitter through the shallows.

Karkat nodded in confirmation. “In the top compartment.” 

“Mm.” Jade swished her fingers back and forth, creating spirals and eddies in the slow lap of the water against the rock. “We’ll have to take it out after lunch.”

The air was blessedly free of mosquitoes, and by the time Dave was rousted the sun beat down a warm, welcoming heat. Karkat put together sandwiches for the three of them, carefully layering the lettuce, tomato, cheese, ham, turkey and bacon strips into even rows. Jade clambered around the top of the RV, unlatching the compartment and carefully pulling out the oars. 

The crinkle of paper signaled Dave unfolding the national park guide they'd picked up at the ranger station on the way in. He surveyed the foliage around the camp while chewing on his lip.

"Manzanita... my boy Jeff pine... I think that one's an incense cedar." He picked up a fallen branch from the ground near the tree, and sniffed it carefully.

"Yep."

"I know that one," Karkat said, pointing at a small, green and fuzzy-leafed plant. "Indian toilet paper."

"Indigenous!" Jade gave in a sing-song.

Karkat rolled his eyes. "I'm allowed."

"Dude, there's no way this soft boy is called Indian toilet paper." Dave stooped down to rub at the edge of a leaf.

At that, Karkat snorted. "I bet you my share of bacon right now. Check the index, fucker."

Dave shook his head and flipped to the end of the pamphlet. Then, quietly: _"Fuck."_

Jade giggled as Karkat waved a strip of bacon around triumphantly. "I _knew_ it!"

"No, no, wait, hold on!" Dave flapped an impatient hand at them. "Okay, so, _yeah,_ there's a thing called common mullein, that people call Indian or cowboy toilet paper sometimes, but that's _not_ this. Softboy here is little and has pink flower buds, so:" Dave held up the guide to face them. "Lamb's ear."

Jade hopped off the RV's ladder. "I grow veggies, but usually they come with labels." She took the guide from him and studied it a moment. "I don't know, cool guy, this almost looks more like a baby mullein. Curled leaves, right?" Dave groaned.

"Curled leaves, yeah, but they _both_ have curled leaves in the summertime, that's just what heat does to soft plants. This one has less of a bisection in the leaf, and more of a random vein pattern. _Lamb's. Ear._"

Karkat licked his fingers clean of mayonnaise. "So you're saying I can't have your bacon?"

Dave jogged over to the picnic table, reaching around Karkat to grab at the sandwich there. "No. Give it up." He wrapped his in foil before moving to do the same to the other two. "What do we still need to do to get ready?"

"Just getting the canoe in the water." Jade crossed the oars in front of her in a fighting stance. "Then we ride for battle!"

"You are such a dork," Karkat laughed at her. He ruffled her hair as he stepped around her, pulling himself into the RV to grab the tube of sunscreen. "Better lube up for the angry star monster."

"All hail," Dave intoned. "All hail the star monster."

Jade shook her head, muttering "And somehow _I'm _the dork."

* * *

Another few minutes saw them carefully pushing the canoe into the water at the lake's edge. They hadn't had to carry it very far, having picked a good campsite near a gentle slope of beach. But Jade and Dave, being barefoot, were both having to step with caution around the larger rocks in the sand, while Karkat just tromped through the edge of the water, protected by his Crocs.

"See _this _is why it pays to be prepared," Karkat smirked as Jade spouted a litany of curses aimed at the pebble subject to the banging of her pinky toe. "No need to make stones blush."

Dave, even as he shoved at the canoe head, was rapping anxiously under his breath.

"Call the pebbles thrown just a skip and a miss, sandstone limestone ig-ne-ous, sinking to the lakebed try to get rest, muddy water disturbed up and messed-"

"Stop worrying, you big baby." Karkat stepped in under Dave's arms to plant a firm kiss on his cheek, cupping the taller boy's neck in his hand. When the mumbled verses didn't stop, he grabbed at Dave's hands instead, pulling to get his boyfriend to look in his eyes.

"We'll be safe, okay? There's three of us so it'll even pull down further in the water and be steadier than with two people. It's fine."

Jade came up behind Dave then. "Plus, I thought ahead and brought a life jacket just for you." She pushed the bright orange vest over Dave's head, then wrapped her arms around him. Karkat leaned in to kiss where her hands folded across Dave's chest, then toppled gently into the hug himself, pulling Dave's hands around to rest against his back.

"Where's this coming from, babe?" Jade asked. "You helped Karkat pack up the canoe, you knew we were planning on this. I thought you liked the idea."

"I've still never..." Dave croaked. He swallowed. "I still haven't learned to swim, yet. Texas, you know." He gave a weak smile.

"You won't have to," Karkat said comfortingly. "Look, you're going to be in the middle, that's the safest part. If we do actually flip you'll have your fat-crossing-guard cosplay on to stop you from going under, and we can both help you get back in once we get it right side up."

"Which won't happen, right, 'Kat?" Jade glared at him, to which Karkat rolled his eyes.

"No. There is absolutely no chance we will need all of the safety precautions we have in case something goes wrong, which it won't."

Dave snorted. "Thanks for pretending." He shook his arms out with nervous energy as his partners released him from the group hug. "Let's go, then, yeah?"

Before even pushing off from the shore they had Dave laid out across the length of the canoe, his head in Karkat's lap and his legs outside Jade's as she pulled the oars from their stowed position and used them to leverage the craft off the sandy shelf. "Anchor's up," she said with a grin.

With long, smooth pulls Jade propelled them toward the center of the lake, muscles flexing under her brown skin to bring the oars up, back, and around in powerful strokes of motion. Dave tapped his fingers on his thighs in a nervous tattoo, somewhat soothed with Karkat's fingers in his hair. Karkat whistled tunelessly as he looked around, taking in the sparkling waters and pine trees swaying gently in the wind.

"This really is gorgeous," he sighed, slumping down lower in the canoe. Dave murmured in agreement, slightly relaxing as the sunlight played across his shades.

After reaching the middle Jade stored the oars, and Dave risked sitting up to pull out and distribute the sandwiches they'd made. They sat and relaxed together, eating their lunch and rubbing sunscreen onto each others' exposed arms and necks, taking care not to rock the boat as they shifted around.

When they'd finished, and packed away the crumbs and wrappings of their meal, Karkat took up the oars, rowing them toward the far end of the lake and the wooden bridge that carried the trail from one bank of the tributary to the other.

"Watch your heads," he told them as they approached. There was only a couple of feet of clearance between the wooden support beams and the waterline, and Jade had to slide down in the canoe to avoid knocking her head against the bridge. Dave laughed at the way her face scrunched as her limbs tangled awkwardly with his, and Karkat ducked his head to hide a smile.

On the other side of the bridge the river narrowed even further, its depth allowing it to continue a slow pour of water into the lake. Karkat went slowly, using the paddles to push off from the tangles of tree roots reaching out from the banks. Murmuring jokes about the water striders flitting about on the surface, Jade coaxed Dave up and out from the bottom of the boat to look at the rippling water. "Look, they're little daves. Water-daves." The boys laughed.

"There's fish in there too, looks like." He pointed out the small, silvery shapes darting among the reedy flooded grasses, easier to see as the trees grew closer to the bank and shaded the water's surface.

About a hundred yards upstream from the bridge came a line of rocks breaking up the river's flatness, and Karkat guided them to the eastern bank, where a sandy cove spread out under the limbs of a gigantic oak tree. Jade reached out to brush at a branch that hung near them, broad leaves passing under her hand and _shush_ing in the tree above them.

When they'd firmly beached the canoe, Karkat took the hands of the other two and pulled them up onto the flat forest floor on the far side of the tree.

"I found this earlier when the two of you were still asleep. Come here, be quiet."

Stepping carefully, the trio made their way among the aspens lining the river bank, until Karkat held up a hand for them to stop, gently pushing a tree branch out of the way. "See them?"

Jade gasped. "Oh my gosh, they're adorable!"

Dave peered into the dimness of the grove, taking his shades off to see better. Three light brown shapes came into focus, nudging at each other in the cover of a bush, and he smiled. "Baby fauns... wow. Where's their mom?"

Karkat replied, voice low, "I saw her on the other side of the river earlier. She'll probably be back in a couple hours to check on them."

"They're so _little!"_

Dave and Jade were wide-eyed and smiling hugely, open mouthed at the tiny deer laying quietly so close to them. Karkat smiled back, full of affection, and gently tugged at their hands. "Come on, they'll get stressed if we're here too long."

On their way back to the canoe, Jade jogged up to walk next to him. "Thanks, Kitkat." She kissed him on the cheek.

Dave came up on the other side. "We don't deserve our wonderful boyfriend, waking up early to find us adorable forest critters to gawk at. The best of dudes." He tousled Karkat's hair, which got both a grumble and a smile in response.

Before they rowed back to the RV, they sat and chatted for a while in the cove at the foot of the oak tree. The sun passing slowly overhead saw Karkat kicking idly at the edge of the water, Dave drawing in the sand and Jade relaxing in the shifting tessellation of shade from the leaves above.

* * *

When they made it back to their campsite Karkat put a movie on, telling them: "While we're here you both have to at least get a little bit of culture."

"Memento counts as culture?" Dave questioned, eyebrows raised. Jade giggled.

"_Yes,_ Memento counts as culture. It's a landmark film, Christopher Nolan is a genius, and you're just a Philistine."

"You're kissing up to Christopher Nolan when something like Dark Knight Rises exists? Dave, we can't keep indulging him."

"No, yeah Karkles. I love my Nolan boys but calling him a genius after we had to sit through that is like saying Ludacris is still relevant after Ludaversal."

"Dave, Ludacris hasn't _ever _been relevant, that's not a valid-"

"_HEY-"_

Nobody was too upset when the argument devolved into wrestling and tickling each other.

That night's fire was a more carefully constructed affair, the pile of kindling deliberately kept low and free of larger logs to allow for the cooking they'd planned to do over it. As Jade poked at the embers to encourage the unburnt chunks of wood to roast more evenly, Dave cut the small red potatoes, carrots and scallions into thumb-sized chunks.

"Alright, curry spices?" Karkat asked, fingers hovering over the box of seasonings.

"Yes please!" Jade flapped an enthusiastic hand at him. Karkat looked to Dave, who paused in his veggie chopping to squint in consideration.

"Little bit."

Karkat nodded and tossed appropriately sized pinches of spice into each of the carefully folded tinfoil bowls.

"Garlic... lemon juice... sesame seeds..." He murmured. Carefully he sprinkled the ingredients over the chicken chunks - tofurkey for Jade - and accepted the bowl of vegetables from Dave, portioning them out to pack in around the sides of the protein. When everything was arranged to his satisfaction, he crumpled the foil together over the top, wrapping each silvery bundle in another sheet of foil to catch the sauce that might drip out. He looked to Jade.

"We ready to roll?"

She saluted. "Aye aye, commander!" Tongue sticking out in concentration, Jade used a longer stick to carefully lift the firewood out of the way. Dave approached with the tinfoil packets held in the long metal tongs they'd brought, and nestled them one by one into the embers, withdrawing the tongs to let Jade settle the rest of the smoldering fire on top of them.

Karkat nodded approvingly, wiping his hands off on their dish towel rag. "Maybe fifteen minutes, then we'll check Dave's to make sure the chicken's cooked all the way through."

Jade clapped her hands onto her knees, wiggling side to side in the camp chair. "I'm excited! Burgers are fun, but this is a real camping experience, you know?"

"Gotta love that smoky flavor," Karkat grinned, stretching his arms straight up in the air and flexing his fingers. "This should be good! It's not totally authentic, or whatever, but the vegetables are clean and I didn't have to watch the meat die."

"Your dad is a little nuts," Dave agreed. "You know how many diseases the animals out here have?"

Jade made a face. "Tons. Though it's actually people feeding them that leads to more deaths in the long run."

Karkat threw his head back and arms out and yelled out into the darkened woods, "Humans suuuuuck!"

The other two whooped and hollered in agreement, laughing loud up at the trees.

The campfire stew they'd made was delicious, crisp veggies and juicy meat still searing hot from where they'd bundled it out of the foil into tortillas. Dave had insisted on bringing chocolate milk along to serve as both drink and dessert, and before long Jade was urging the both of them to finish up by the fire so they could continue with the rest of their evening plans.

"You can't trade one pleasure for another, Snoop Dogg taught me that," Dave said wisely, and Karkat stole his milk, suffering indignant noises and mock affront as he kissed Jade on the cheek on his way into the camper.

Several minutes later Karkat clambered out of the RV wrapped entirely in comforters and hugging a double armful of pillows, plus one in his teeth. Dave and Jade, occupied drizzling water over the ashy remains of the fire, grinned at each other when they saw him. Enormously round in silhouette, the shorter boy laboriously set foot on the RV's ladder, gripping the rungs around his cozy burden.

When they made it up there themselves, they found their boyfriend in a smug nest of cloth and cushion, half-reclined and munching something that might or might not have been Jade's veggie sticks.

Unraveling some of his wrappings, Jade snuggled in beside him. "You're warm."

Karkat smiled down at her, humor alight in his eyes. "That's the curry spice, you'll start to smell it soon." Jade made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat.

Dave was still standing, looking up at the skeins of starlight gleaming down at them from the night sky through the treetops and cloud wisps. "They're so much brighter out here," he said. He sounded almost plaintive, like a question was being asked.

"Light pollution's a bitch," Karkat told him, more serious now. "Come here."

He held his arm out, and Jade threw off some more of the blankets from Karkat's torso to spread across the metal roof. Dave reluctantly stepped toward them, finally looking away from the stars above to kneel and then sit next to them, criss-crossed leg resting on Karkat's. Jade tugged at his sleeve to pull him down to their angle of recline, eliciting a small smile as he extended his hand over Karkat. Their fingers intertwined, and Karkat let his hand rest over theirs as he pressed a soft kiss to Dave's forehead. The tiniest sigh that that provoked made both Jade and Karkat's hearts swell, but they said nothing.

"We needed this," Jade said quietly after a long silence. Karkat felt tears prick his eyes, but it was with warmth and contentment. Dave's next breath was more of a sniff.

"I love you," Karkat said into the hush. He felt both of them pull tighter against him. Jade's breath was warm on the side of his neck and Dave's white-blond hair pushed hard against his chest. Fuck.

"Fuck," Dave said. His voice sounded tight. "I just - guys-"

"Look," Jade breathed.

For a moment, there was nothing. And then, like a spark from the campfire, but purple and trailing fire behind it, came the star. Streaking purple flame that ripped open the Milky Way and left an afterimage on their eyes that slowly faded. And then another, tiny and bright and electric blue. Red and faint, yellow, white, white, white - the shooting stars kept coming, filling the sky with a storm of silent lights and colors.

They were all speaking over each other, voices strained with excitement and awe.

"Did you _see _that one - no, over there -"

"It was _purple__! _I've never seen a purple one before, holy crap, that's amazing!"

"Two at once, to the left, right by that tree, did you see that!"

"I saw it!"

The meteor shower lasted until nearly two in the morning. In between the thrills of pointing out more shooting stars to each other, they talked, and held each other, Dave's hand reaching over to slid over the warm skin of Jade's stomach, Karkat running his fingers through Dave's hair and Jade keeping a hand on Karkat's warm chest just over his heart, to feel it beating. The interruptions of one to turn the others' attention to the night sky did nothing to break the flow of their warm talking, the affection and amusement only growing with each expression of wonder.

In the end none of them were aware of being the last one awake. They fell asleep all the same way. Warm and happy and in love in each others' arms, held close together under the cool night air and with the indescribable beauty of the bright stars above them.

* * *

The next day driving back was warm and sunny, this closest star shining in through the windows of the RV to bring a blush to their arms, wind rushing through the windows to ruffle their hair. Jade and Karkat squished into the front seat next to Dave on the bumpy dirt road out of the park, munching on handfuls of chips and singing along to the radio, playing pop music that all of them knew. They breathed the fresh air of the mountains as they left them to go back home.

"Next year?" said Karkat, looking at the other two.

"Of course," Jade said, kissing him on the cheek. She looked over the driver's seat, reaching out a hand to play with Dave's hair. "What about you, cool guy?"

Dave looked out the window at the trees passing by. The last glimpse of sunshine off the lake, far, far down in the valley.

"Next year," he said, and smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> "It's more of a mood than a plot."


End file.
